Parish dedication
St. Gertrude celebrates renovation and improvements
Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published December 8, 2006
Photo by Gregg McIntosh
Auxiliary Bishop Earl Boyea anoints the new altar last Saturday at the remodeled St. Gertrude Church in St. Clair Shores. | Detroit – The new interior of St. Gertrude Church in St. Clair Shores has a "much warmer feel" and lighting that is "ethereal," in the view of parishioner Mary Michielutti.
"It is a great change from what it was. I love it, but then I'm biased – I'm on the renovation committee," she says.
The changes to the church – where its new altar was dedicated last Saturday by Auxiliary Bishop Earl Boyea – reduce the seating capacity of the church from 1,100 to 750, but provide for a new day chapel that seats 125 and a new Blessed Sacrament chapel.
Instead of painted concrete block, the interior walls of the church are now covered in oak, and other structural changes were made, plus installation of new lighting, heating and sound systems.
"The sound system is so much better, and we can see our organ now," Michielutti adds concerning the changes that also exposed the organ pipes.
The altar has been brought forward toward the congregation, with a skylight above it, while the sanctuary area has been expanded.
"There' a spaciousness and yet an intimacy," Michielutti says.
Besides that, there is a new baptismal font that features flowing water and which can accommodate adult immersion.
St. Gertrude Parish
Address: 28839 Jefferson Ave., St. Clair Shores 48081
Telephone: (586) 777-9120
Current pastor: Fr. John McGreevy, OP
Founding pastor: Fr. Pierre Dejean
Families: 1,350
Outreach: Hosts MCREST shelter for homeless; St. Vincent de Paul Society conference food pantry and clothing pantry; Christian Service commission supports pregnancy aid and ministries to inner-city poor.
| Don Artman says the renovation both updates the church and improves its ability to serve the people of the parish.
"It brings the priest down so he's nearer the people and able to communicate better," says Artman, who chaired the renovation committee along with Dom Zito.
Although parish membership is down from a peak of more than 2,000 families in the 1960s, it has been at about 1,350 for the past eight years, says its business manager, Fred Elias.
The reduced seating capacity is more in line with current parish needs, plus the smaller day chapel provides a place for daily Mass as well as small funerals and weddings, he explains.
Fr. John McGreevy, OP, St. Gertrude's pastor, says the idea behind the renovation was "to create a warm, intimate space, a more prayerful, family-oriented space."
Photo by Gregg McIntosh
Dominican Fr. McGreevy distributes Communion last Saturday. | The altar and other sanctuary furnishings – of rift-cut red oak — are new, although the old pews, which were already in a light oak finish, were reused.
"We went from a very dark brown kind of church to a very open and bright church," Fr. McGreevy says.
Construction began in June, and the parish worshipped in its old school gymnasium until last Saturday's dedication Mass. But the planning for the project, and raising the $575,000 to pay for it, have been going on for nearly five years, Artman says.
Constantine George Pappas of Troy, who is known for his church design work, was architect for the renovation.
The current St. Gertrude Church, built in 1969, is the parish's fifth home. It's first church, built back when the parish was known as St. Felicity, was dedicated in 1826 by Bishop Edward Dominic Fenwick of Cincinnati, as the Diocese of Detroit would not be formed until 1835.
"The parish is 180 years old, and it's a lively and good parish," Fr. McGreevy says, adding, "This renovation cements the feeling that it's going to be here for a long time to come."
Recounting the parish's history, he told how its first church was destroyed by a severe storm off Lake St. Clair, its second burned down, and then its third also fell victim to a storm that left it and its cemetery under the lake. Divers have located and marked the location of the old church's foundation and its cemetery.
"The parish started out as a French parish under the patronage of St. Felicity, but it later became a Belgian one under the patronage of their St. Gertrude," he says.
The fourth church was built in 1897, but had become structurally unsound by the late 1960s, besides being too small for the parish membership, prompting its replacement by the current church.
Photo by Gregg McIntosh
The renovated interior of St. Gertrude Church can be seen as the crucifer
leads the recessional at last Saturday’s Mass.
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